Prepaid cell phones advice
 

Hi,

I am looking for some advice on how to go about staying connected while on a trip to Europe. We will be in the following countries France-Germany-Switzerland-Italy-Portugal-Spain-Netherlands. The trip will last 15 days and we were hoping to be able to use a prepaid card with a data plan, for calls we will be calling mostly the states. We will not be using the phone as the primary device for making voice calls we will be using it in case of emergencies but it would be nice to have data 3g or 2g.

We will be landing in Paris.

Also, we only need the sim cards, we have euro compatible phones.

Data would be nice to have, but, generally speaking, you'll find it too expensive. Better to use free WiFi.

For SIMs, have a look at Roam Simple or Call in Europe. I've used both with no billing problems and excellent customer service. Both do offer data.

Local SIMs would not be practical for 7 countries in 15 days.

The cheapest way to phone home would be with an international phone card.

Hi djkbooks

In your opinion between Roam Simple and Call in Europe is one better than the other in terms of coverage?

Coverage would be the same. Both use reputable partners in every country.

I've used Call in Europe many times. I chose Roam Simple this last time because the SIMs were free plus S&H. We make very few calls, so it's just not worth our while to bother with a local SIM. You can also economize with text messages.